This invention relates to the field of explosively embedded anchoring or mooring devices for providing a mooring or anchoring point on the surface of the sea or ocean floor.
Actively embedded anchors are known to the art and, with few exceptions, all comprise variants on the same basic structure. A penetrating shaped anchor member having some form of sea bed contact firing mechanism is connected to a dynamic reaction unit which provides a substantial resistance by means of hydrodynamic coupling to the ocean water. The anchors contain a relatively high velocity, high explosive component which is fired by contact of the tip of the anchor with the ocean floor. The high explosive detonation drives the anchoring tip into the ocean floor. The reaction forces are coupled to the reaction member and are then hydrodynamically coupled to the ocean.
Typical examples include Feiler U.S. Pat. No. 3,032,000 showing an early form of a penetrator head having contact detonation and a described light weight dynamic reaction member. Gardiner U.S. Pat. No. 3,170,433 introduces the use of anchoring fins on the penetration member. Bower U.S. Pat. No. 3,520,268 shows an elaborate gas seal for coupling the high velocity gas expansion into the penetrator head and shows the current state of the art in light weight water resisting reaction members.
An alternate development has been development of a series of explosively embedded, expanding plate anchors. Typical are Christians et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,653,355; Mayo, U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,646; and Stern et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,356,788, each of which show expanding fluke structures which are explosively embedded into an ocean floor and which expand upon attempted withdrawal, resisting essentially vertical forces.
Variant self-bury anchors include Hossfeld, U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,802, which shows an adaptation of the jet wash principle to dynamically embed an anchor member by the use of a directed stream of fluid washing an embedment hole within the subocean floor. Brown, U.S. Pat. No. 3,517,469 shows the use of an expanding, explosive camouflet to expand of the tip of an explosively embedded anchor to more securely fasten it to the ocean floor.